MORE NEWS, 12-22: U.S. SUN GOES TO FRANCE; KOREAN WIND COMES TO WISCONSIN; MOST SHOPPERS LIKE NEW HOLIDAY LIGHTS...; …BUT SOME DON’T

U.S. SUN GOES TO FRANCE
First Solar eyes Blanquefort for French plant
Matt Daily and Laura Isensee (w/Dave Zimmerman), December 21, 2009 (Reuters)

"Solar module maker First Solar Inc…and partner EDF Energies Nouvelles [are] in the final stages of talks to build a new manufacturing plant in Blanquefort, France.

"First Solar, which has previously announced it would work with EDF, said the new plant is expected to begin construction in the second half of 2010…The news follows the Tempe, Arizona-based company's forecast for [a stronger] 2010…"

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"The plant in France, which will create up to 400 jobs at the town near the city of Bordeaux, will cost about $150 million and is expected to reach full production annual capacity of 100 megawatts in early 2012.

"Earlier this month, First Solar, said it planned to add eight more production lines to its existing operations in Malaysia, and it would reach a total output capacity of about 1.8 gigawatts in 2010."

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"First Solar also announced…[the start of] commercial operations at the 21-megawatt solar power plant that the company developed in Blythe, California -- about 200 miles east of Los Angeles…

"First Solar is one of the world's largest producers of photovoltaic cells, which turn sunlight into electricity. Its production costs are the lowest in the industry, although its thin-film cadmium telluride cells are not as efficient in capturing sunlight as more traditional silicon-based cells…[Nasdaq shares] of First Solar were up 0.88 percent at $136.87…"


KOREAN WIND COMES TO WISCONSIN
Wave Wind catches the wind energy wave
Thomas Content, December 20, 2009 (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

"As economic development officials await word on whether a European wind power company will invest in Milwaukee, an Asian firm is planting some roots in Wisconsin.

"Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea is expanding into the wind power business and is working with Wave Wind LLC of Sun Prairie to establish itself in North America…Wave Wind is a company that formed in mid-2007 as a joint project of Tim Laughlin and Robert Heinemann. Laughlin came from the heavy crane [wind construction] industry…[and] Heinemann owns and operates Wave Communications, a cell-phone tower construction firm…[They aim to] fill a niche market building small to medium-sized wind farms of one to 50 turbines…dealing with the challenge of oversized equipment like wind turbines, blades and towers…The jobs are huge and the logistics are oversized as well…"

Here’s how it’s done. From ecotricity via YouTube

"After experiencing record growth in prior years, the wind power market stalled in 2009. A rebound is forecast in 2010, but whether that will kick in before midyear is up in the air, Laughlin and Wilkinson said…[A New Energy policitical push in Congress for a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) is helping]…Wisconsin is one of 26 states with a renewable energy mandate…[requiring] that 25% of the state's electricity come from renewable sources of energy by 2025…

"The 45-employee firm has been most active in Texas, Oklahoma and other states where wind power development has been active…[focusing] on transportation and logistics of moving massive pieces of equipment - from trains to staging areas to trucks to project development sites…The construction work - hundreds feet in the air - requires the use of giant cranes and other types of oversized equipment…"

Wisconsin has wind assets. (click to enlarge)

"The partnership with Hyundai is moving Wave Wind's focus closer to home, as the company branches beyond construction and maintenance and into wind farm project development…The company is looking to tap local suppliers for its six-turbine Hyundai project, hiring Manitowoc-based Tower Tech Systems to build the wind towers…

"Some states have been ahead of Wisconsin in landing key suppliers to the wind industry, including Pennsylvania, Colorado and Iowa…But Wisconsin is poised to catch up. More than 70 companies are part of a statewide coalition of businesses that are getting involved in supplying the wind industry…"


MOST SHOPPERS LIKE NEW HOLIDAY LIGHTS...
L.E.D. Holiday Light Sales Boom
Leora Broydo Vestel, December 21, 2009 (NY Times)

"Gillian Gillett, a San Francisco resident, loved the energy-efficient, light-emitting diode holiday lights that she purchased for her Christmas tree last year. This year, she bought more and draped them around a tree in front of her home…

"…[D]ecorative L.E.D. holiday lights appear to be catching on in homes across the country. With the nation’s most iconic Christmas trees lighting the way — the White House and Rockefeller Center trees are decked out in L.E.D.s — retailers are reporting brisk sales for the lights this holiday season, despite the rough economy…Home Depot…is seeing a triple-digit increase in L.E.D. holiday light sales compared to 2008. And Christmas Lights Etc., an online retailer, announced a 200 percent boost in L.E.D. sales over last year…"

L.E.D. lights in D.C. (click to enlarge)

"Jagdish Rebello, an electronics market analyst at iSuppli, said that L.E.D.s will account for an estimated 25 to 50 percent of total holiday light sales this year in retail channels, despite prices that can be two to three times higher than traditional incandescent holiday lights…Over 100 million decorative light strings are expected to be sold in the United States this year…

"While L.E.D.s have been used as indicator lights in electronics products for many years, manufacturers only recently began using them in household lighting products. And until L.E.D. holiday lights came along, incandescents had the Christmas lighting market cornered…[According to] Energy Star, a government energy-efficiency rating system for lighting and other products…L.E.D.s use up to 90 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs to produce the same amount of light, and can last up to ten times longer."

L.E.D. lights in Rockefeller Center. (click to enlarge)

"…[H]oliday [L.E.D.] lights transform only about five percent of the power that they use into light, while the rest gets emitted as heat. Colored incandescent holiday lights are even less efficient, with as little as one percent of the energy getting converted to light…

"L.E.D.s have other selling points…such as the availability of solar-powered outdoor holiday lights, which use rechargeable batteries, but no electricity. And, unlike incandescents, a problem with one L.E.D. light does not affect the rest of the string…[but] most consumers have yet to look to L.E.D.s as replacements for standard incandescent light bulbs. Success in the holiday lighting category may help to change this…[T]he relative inexpensiveness of L.E.D. holiday lights [may] create low-cost expectations for other types of L.E.D.s…"


…BUT SOME DON’T
Many take dim view of new-fangled Christmas lights
Sean Murphy, December 21, 2009 (AP)

"To Steven Walls, it's beginning to look nothing like Christmas, anywhere he goes…While more people make the switch to energy-efficient lights for their holiday decorations, Walls this year insisted on decorating with the old-style, torpedo-shaped Christmas lights his family has put up for years. But it was no easy feat: To replace the half-dozen or so bulbs that burned out last year, Walls had to visit eight stores before he found any…

"The old two-inch, 9-watt incandescent bulbs may be the gas guzzlers of holiday lights, but they remain a holiday staple in homes across the country. Many people aren't willing to trade the chubby, colorful halo effect for the softer glow of a light-emitting diode, or LED. And as retailers increasingly stock the more energy-efficient lights, lovers of the classic lights scramble to find them, fearing they will soon be gone from shelves for good."

From ecogeeky via YouTube

"While acknowledging LEDs are more durable and use up to one-hundredth the amount of electricity as incandescents, Gary Barksdale grows nostalgic sorting through broken bulbs and overloaded fuses every year…LED lights are made of plastic, but Barksdale said dropping and shattering a brightly colored glass bulb is just part of the holiday routine…

"Despite their passionate fan club, incandescent lovers are a dying bunch. Strands of LEDs are more expensive than incandescents, but the LEDs are much cheaper to run. Retailers say the long-term savings may be driving people to stores to make the switch…[and] LEDs provide more benefits than just energy savings…"

L.E.D. tree lights. (click to enlarge)

"...[A] number of large commercial customers, including cities, towns and theme parks, [have] invested in the new technology in recent years, but now…more consumers making the switch for their homes…Even Santa Claus made the switch. The small town of Santa Claus, Ind., this year erected a new tree with LEDs, and the new lights also dot the town's 1.2-mile display around the Lake Rudolph Camp Ground.

"But Santa Claus resident Herman Souder — who hangs thousands of the older-style incandescents on his two-story home in the Christmas Lake neighborhood — is staying with the old standby. He tried a strand of LEDs but they didn't provide the same punch, so he took them down. He said he will switch over eventually, when LEDs become brighter, in an effort to save on an electric bill that can include $200 or more for Christmas lights alone…"